From Piled Embankments to off Shore Anchoring Systems

From Piled Embankments to off Shore Anchoring Systems – Geotechnical Research
at the Institute of Technology Sligo
Presented by
Dr Pat Naughton & Dr Con O’Loughlin
School of Engineering
IT Sligo
Monday 24th November, 2008, 8pm (Room A0004 - IT Sligo)

The Institute of Technology sector has expanded rapidly in recent years. In IT Sligo educational programmes in Civil Engineering range from Ordinary and Honours Bachelors (accredited by Engineers Ireland) to Masters and PhD degrees. The Geotechnical Research Group, lead by Dr Pat Naughton & Dr Con O’Loughlin has being awarded over € 650,000 in competitive research funding in the last year. The group currently has five Masters and PhD students researching piled embankments, site investigation techniques, reuse of marginal poor quality fills and off shore anchoring systems. In addition, internal funding from the Institute has allowed the
group to develop a state of the art geotechnical laboratory and facilitated the purchase of the first geotechnical centrifuge in Ireland. The centrifuge will greatly enhance the groups testing and research capabilities.

This presentation focuses on two particular areas of research currently conducted by the group: piled embankments and off shore anchoring systems. Piled embankments are used around the world to control settlements of road and rail infrastructure constructed on soft compressible soils. Off shore anchoring systems are used extensively in the construction of off shore energy farms and in the oil industry. An overview of the research mythologies and current findings are presented, along with the implications for design and construction in these applications.

The IT Sligo geotechnical centrifuge will allow study of the behaviour of foundations, offshore anchorages, embankments or supports, using reduced-scale models. The scale-reduction factor of the model is equal to the centrifugal acceleration being applied, typically up to 100g. Load cells, displacement transducers and photographic techniques allow loads and deformations in the model to be quantified. Details on how this advanced testing technique will be integrated into the investigation of these two research areas are presented.

A recording of the two presentations is available here (there are some sound problems in the second presentation)

New Wastewater Treatment Works for Sligo City

Engineers Ireland North West invites you to an Evening Lecture and Webcast entitled ‘New Wastewater Treatment Works for Sligo City’ on Monday 13 October at 8 pm in the Glasshouse Hotel.

The lecture is a joint presentation by Sligo County Council and Jennings & O’Donovan Engineers and will give a detailed insight to one of the largest infrastructural projects in the region.

Pat Doyle, Project Engineer, Sligo County Council
Louise Dwyer, Senior engineer, Jennings O'Donovan
James Melvin, Senior Resident Engineer, Sligo County Council

Also, there is an opportunity to visit the site and works on Monday 13.10.2008 at 12:00. If interested please revert to Séamus Lee (slee@vha.ie) for details regarding meeting point, etc.

Please note that as a CPD approved event, those viewing the lecture by webcast can include it in their CPD hours.

Webcast Recordings are available, but there were a few technical problems with connectivity. The recording was split into two parts. The sound was too low for the first 3 minutes and it took another minute to get it sorted. In addition we lost connectivity after about 24 minutes and it took us a few minutes to get setup again. The last 39 minutes is in a second recording where the sound seem to have been fine but there is a little problem of synchronisation with the slides from time to time. However we hope you find it useful:

• Part 1
• Part 2

Slides in PDF format are available here. (It's big - 43Mb)

We would welcome you comments below.

Rural Broadband Access – Donegal, A Case Study

The North-West Region of Engineers Ireland

Invites you to attend an Evening Lecture

Presented by:

John O’Raw - IT Manager, Institute of Technology Letterkenny
and
Danny McFadden - IT Manager, NWENW

Rural Broadband Access – Donegal, A Case Study
Recording now available here: http://breeze.itsligo.ie/p18431116/
You will need Flash player installed on your PC.
8:00 p.m.
Monday 22nd September 2008
The Radisson Hotel,
Ballincar, Rosses Point, Sligo

All welcome & no entrance fee
CPD Accredited



Abstract:

The lack of national policy to deliver modern communications has resulted in the absence of a carrier independent core infrastructure and a strategically planned last mile delivery. Universal service in Ireland was defined for voice, not for data. This has been addressed in other jurisdictions by building codes rather than technology. The only feasible short and medium term solution to the deficit of last-mile infrastructure is the planned and structured use of wireless technologies. Although a number of discrete government owned fibre and microwave networks exists, government funded networks have generally been single purpose and do not integrate or collaborate at a business level.

Rural towns of population sizes greater than 1,000 generally have competitive broadband services based on DSL and wireless, however coverage issues are common. There is generally considered to be no commercial case for broadband services in dispersed rural areas.

To provide for home-working business applications 1mbs of TCPIP with low latency has proved sufficient. Recreational use tends to have a greater requirement. Business sites will clearly require much greater capacity.

Present 3G/UMTS technology is unlikely to deliver to end-users expectations in the medium term. A typical HSDPA site will provide up to 7.2mbs/sector downstream (theoretical 14mbs). However there is no way to predict the simultaneous customer numbers and quality of service.

Empirically, using unlicensed 5.8ghz WiMAX equipment total throughput of 54mbs/sector is currently achieved and there is an expectation of doubling this within 6 months. The same technology can be used for point-to-point links, currently delivering dedicated 54mbs to a typical business customer. Using licensed 3.5 ghz WiMAX throughputs are considerably lower due to the available spectrum. A carrier grade core will typically include diverse licensed microwave links and MPLS switches.

The economics indicate a Wireless ISP (WISP) using unlicensed technology with a single site could break even over a period of less than two years. However, the construction of a carrier grade core is capital intensive and requires more complex business modelling. Licensed technology is considerably less economical.

The constraint on the use of wireless is the availability of spectrum. A typical 5.8ghz site will use discrete 20mhz channels, giving a maximum of 360 end points per site. Throughput from licensed technologies will be lower due to the smaller channel sizes, guard bands and exclusion zones. The same issues exist for UMTS. Ongoing roll-out of wireless technologies will require higher density of sites

Upcoming webcasts

A number of webcasts have been announced in the Engineers Journal for the next season (there may even be more). Check back here for access instructions coming up to the date, or email brian.mulligan@gmail.com to have them sent to you.

Feel free to make any comments below on the development.

Recording of Geological Survey of Ireland INFOMAR Webcast

Title: INFOMAR – Ireland’s marine mapping programme

Presented by: Koen Verbruggen, GSI and John Evans, Marine Institute, Joint Project Managers, INFOMAR

Time: 8.30pm - Date: Monday, 11th February 2008

Venue: Glasshouse Hotel, Hyde bridge, Sligo Webcast recording here

Feel free to post comments below.